we went to kinney’s down on sixth because
we like the jukebox, filled with old jazz and blues
standards and classics from the nineteen-twenties
on. kali especially likes munk and duke
ellington and hoagie carmichael, and
kali sizzles when she dances, so we
all kept her happy, pumping dollars one
after another and in fives to keep
the music fresh and hopping as well as
tossing drinks down and around and eyes
glued to her body as it swayed in the
smoky night out on kinney’s tiny dance floor.
when she got hit and killed by a drunk driver,
we all went sober . . . until beth came along . . .

dmpitchford